Funds are being requested to support the Third International Conference on the Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV. Previous conferences were held in Bethesda, MD, in 1992 (in conjunction with NIH) and in Paris, France, in 1994. The purpose of these meetings is to provide a forum for researchers, academicians, and clinicians involved in VZV research to have a forum for scientific exchange. This meeting is planned to occur March 9-11, 1997. The 1997 meeting will focus on zoster, particularly as a problem for an aged population, but will also include information on vericella. VZV is the agent that causes vericella (chickenpox) and zoster (shingles), both of which are important pathogenes for humans, Zoster is particularly a medical problem for individuals over the age of 50 years in whom it can not only be manifested as a skin rash but also may be associated with severe pain that pay persist for months to years after the original illness, a condition termed post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Topics to be discussed at the meeting in March 1997 include virus replication, gene regulation, virus-cell protein interaction, animal models, latency, host responses, all on the first half-day of the meeting, under the heading of "Basic Virology and Pathogenesis." Topics for the second and third days include diagnostic virology, epidemiology, use of antivirals and vaccines, immunocompromised patients, unusual clinical manifestations of disease, congenital sysdromes, and pain, as they relate to varicella, and zoster. With specific regard to zoster, which is to be the major focus of the meeting, there will be discussions on the current and future potential of vaccine technology, emerging therapy for zoster pain, and new discoveries about VZV latency.